Oliver 144 Jointer Knife Angle

[Bill Webster]

Wondering about the angles on my 1936 Oliver 144 jointer knives. I have an old 144BD owners manual from a few years later and no mention of knife angle. Measuring the best I could and looking at the manual drawing, it looks like the knives can be ground at 40 to 45 degrees (included angle) and honed up to 50 degrees. If my measurement and drawing are correct, 50 degrees will still give a 5 degree relief angle. Sound right 144 owners?


oliver144.JPG

[Andrew Hughes]

Damn nice jointer.
My research has determined Oliver's knife pockets on jointers are 38 degrees. So on my 166 I sharpen the knifes to 42 degrees that give me 10 clearance.
Rich would know for sure if 38 is the same for you.
You have a very capable looking machine.

[Bill Webster]

Thanks Andrew. Not sure where the 38 degrees is measured from. The drawing in my 1944 144BD manual looks more like 43 degrees off of a radial line for the blade slot. This manual is about 8 years newer than my 1936 jointer, but I don't think the head design changed. A 42 degree grind would be right in the middle of the range that I thought would be good. I overlaid a 45 degree line in the screenshot. Don't know how accurate the hand drawing is, but it definitely looks like more than 45 degrees (included angle on knife). I want to make a honing fixture to make a 40 degree micro bevel to get a little more mileage between sharpenings.

144 page.jpg

144bd angle.png

[Andrew Hughes]

I see what you mean. Your machine is 20 years early then mine. I think your on the right track.
Heres how I measured the heads hook angle.
This very nerdy info I confess to haveing a jointer obsession.